Page 12 of Matters of a Duke's Heart
And the letter had arrived, declaring His Grace’s desire to meet with Felicity’s father. Her stomach had been in knots all morning ever since she had heard the duke’s arrival in her home. He had been whisked away to her father’s study while Felicity stayed in the drawing room for a potential meeting.
She had indeed agreed to it, agreed to meet the mysterious duke whom nobody seemed to have a straight story about. Every tale collided; everybody recounted conflicting events, and so Felicity had no idea of the man her mother fawned over for her.
Until his figure fell into the doorway of the drawing room, and Felicity’s eyes landed on—
No, she thought with a horrible dread. For she was surely not looking at the Duke of Langdon.
No…
Heavens, Felicity’s face slowly simmered into a hard blush. The man who entered was surely not the duke whom everybody feared and gossiped about, not when he was a man Felicity had already met.
“Good day, my lady.”
She heard the rough, annoyed voice from the evening in Vauxhall Gardens echoing through her mind, and she could only hope that he did not remember her.
Felicity thought back to how rude he had been, how she had still searched for him upon arriving at the Orchestra, how he had dismissed her and her embarrassing desperation.
So not only did she have to endure facing the strange Duke of Langdon whom she did not know, but she had to face thestranger she had humiliated herself in front of, realizing they were one and the same.
“Oh, Lord Merriweather, it seems there are sparks flying already.” Felicity’s mother’s voice brought Felicity out of her reverie, and she quickly averted her gaze. “Look at how they look at one another!”
Felicity sheepishly found her attention back on the duke. The icy blue eyes were not as cold or sharp as they had been in the Grand South Walk, but now they were rounded in surprise that he quickly shut down.
Heavens, he does indeed recognize me.
He blinked, frowned, and then looked away from her.
“They say a good match is between two that meet and look upon one another as if they have met in another lifetime,” Felicity’s mother noted, her eyes catching Felicity’s. She cringed and waved her mother away. It sounded far too romantic for the situation, and Felicity already knew that there would be no romance to be found…
And then she realized what her mother said.
“A match?” she asked quietly.
“Indeed.” It was her father who spoke up now, stepping forward. Behind him, the duke’s almost blank stare may have been disinterest if not for the way he looked caught off guard.
And then there was Felicity’s mother whose eyes shone with excitement as she clasped her hands against her chest.
Felicity’s pulse thrummed in her wrists.
“His Grace has expressed an interest to marry you,” her father announced, and her mother could hardly hold back her noise of approval. “I have given my blessing, for I believe His Grace is a good man. He has expressed he will make a good husband for you and provide you with an excellent future. My daughter, I…” He hesitated, glancing back at the duke before approaching Felicity and sitting alongside her. “I know you wish for a love match, but this is a good one none the less. This is security. In time, it could lead to love. Who knows?”
“Father,” Felicity all but whispered, embarrassed, for the duke pointedly pretended as though he was not listening. “I…”
“You do not need to decide in this moment,” her father said. “His Grace wishes for a quick engagement.”
“Four days, in fact.” It was the first thing he had said to her, even beyond the forgone introductions that had been bypassedin favor of her mother’s excitement and their own concealed recognition of one another.
“Four days?” Felicity echoed, her voice high and cracking, as she tacked on, “Your Grace.”
Those blue eyes flicked to her, and he nodded, as curt as he had been in the gardens. “Lady Felicity, I do not wish to pull you into the gossip mill that has surrounded me following… many things. Especially since my intentions to wed were announced. Furthermore, I do not wish to deal with the hassle that is the ton women trying to curry favor at another social event when I can simply announce our own engagement.”
Everything was so… so formal.
It struck Felicity just how business-like it all sounded. She had overheard her father conduct business meetings with more warmth than this room had.
All she could hear was the cold dismissal with which he had turned her away when she’d been lost and alone in the gardens.
And to think she had searched for him afterwards. Never in her life had she thought he was the same, supposedly good man who had abandoned a lady in need.
